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Homosexuality

Reaction to the growing and multifaceted acceptance of homosexuality
in US society continues to be an animating feature of Christian Right
activism. Like abortion, homosexuality is a permanent, defining issue
for the movement. In the 2000 elections, several antigay referenda were
put to the voters. In Vermont, punishing legislators who had voted to
pass a bill allowing civil unions for gay men and lesbians was pivotal
in many races for the state legislature. This antigay campaign went by
the coded, nativist-style slogan "Take back Vermont." Also
in Vermont, out of state Christian Right interests supported an antiunion
backlash, and succeeded in defeating several prounion incumbent Republicans
in the Republican primaries. In the general election, several pro-union
Democrats lost to antiunion Republicans. The result was that Republicans-the
majority of whom are antiunion-took control of the Vermont House of Representatives from
the Democrats.

In Oregon, an antigay initiative that would have prohibited positive
discussion of homosexuality in public schools was narrowly defeated,
while initiatives in Nevada and Nebraska banning gay marriage and civil
unions passed. An initiative in Maine that would have banned discrimination
on the basis of sexual orientation in employment, housing and public
accommodations, narrowly failed.

One notable aspect in these campaigns is a shift away from the sharp,
homophobic rhetoric so characteristic of Christian Right leaders in the
past. Perhaps weary of being described as hate mongers and as responsible
for creating a cultural climate that fosters violence and hate crimes
or simply acting strategically in response to the public's increasing
tolerance, even as some radical Christian Right leaders, notably John
Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute,33 have
backed away from strident antigay rhetoric. There is, however, no evidence
of any significant change in their underlying views. Similarly, the emergence
of "ex-gay" ministries such as Exodus International have sought
to put a friendlier face on religious opposition to homosexuality and
gay civil rights. These groups promote supposedly curative therapies,
which actually involve little more than efforts to convert people to
evangelical Christianity.34

Recently, this approach has further evolved in the form of a broader "love
the sinner" antigay politics, expounded by Rev. John Rankin, a graduate
of Harvard Divinity School, and professional debater, who heads the one-man
Theological Education Institute in Hartford, Connecticut. In the Fall
of 2000, Rankin keynoted an area conference on "A Biblical View
of Sexuality" in Northampton, Massachusetts. The event was organized,
according to Rankin, in response to "a growing number of evangelical
women [who] claimed that lesbianism is affirmed by God." Northampton,
he explained, "is the location of Smith College, the nation's premier
women's college where lesbianism is as strong as anywhere. . . ."35 Rankin
emphasized that homosexuals should not be hated, but pitied and shown
the gospel. He claimed that homosexuals tend to be victims of child sexual
abuse.36

The seemingly obscure Rankin has debated approximately 50 leading liberals,
usually before liberal audiences on college campuses. "I do my forums
in the presence of the country's best skeptics," he declared, "and
my goal, much of it, is to defang the opposition, so people can hear
the gospel."37 Among
those he debated in 2000 through the vehicle of his so-called Mars Hill
Forums, were Patricia Ireland, president of the National Organization
for Women, Debra Hafner, former executive director of Sexuality, Education
and Information Council of the United States, (SEICUS) Frances Kissling,
president of Catholics for Free Choice, and Rev. John Buehrens, president
of the Unitarian Universalist Association.